Carnival Cruise Line will launch a new marketing campaign, “Funderstruck,” that invites people to choose fun again by booking and taking a vacation with America’s cruise line.

Built upon Carnival’s brand platform Choose Fun, the company introduces an entirely new word – Funderstruck – to describe the unmistakable feeling uniquely experienced when choosing fun on Carnival. Funderstruck will celebrate what travelers want right now and something that Carnival is precision engineered to deliver – unapologetic fun together with those you enjoy spending time with the most.

Carnival will introduce Funderstruck first through CRM and owned social followed by a series of back-to-back campaign activations during two pivotal Holiday cultural moments. The first Funderstruck spots will air on ESPN and ABC during the NBA on Christmas Day games, in addition to game and pre-game sponsorships. Funderstruck will then be featured prominently with Carnival sponsoring the iconic Times Square New Year’s Eve Celebration, through a robust collaboration with ABC and the New York Times Square Alliance.

Carnival is finishing the year with a very successful restart of its guest operations, following an industry-wide, 16-month pause in the U.S. Carnival has returned 19 of its 22 U.S-based ships – including its newest ship, Mardi Gras, as it solidifies its position as America’s Cruise Line sailing the most guests of any cruise line. Looking to 2022, its entire U.S. fleet and all ten of its year-round home ports will be back to full guest operations in March, in time for the cruise line’s 50th birthday. Carnival will also take delivery of two more ships in 2022 as it grows its guest capacity to more than pre-pandemic levels.

The integrated campaign coincides with the cruise industry’s 2022 wave season, which is the annual kick-off to cruise planning for millions of Americans and travel advisors. In addition to the Christmas and NYE integrations, the Funderstruck message will be used across all Carnival owned channels, OOH placements in key port and feeder markets, :15 and :30 National TV commercials, and digitally led efforts highlighted by streaming video, streaming audio, podcasts, unique high impact display and video efforts, and social presence across TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook.

In several spots, guests enjoy the many Funderstruck experiences that Carnival has to offer, from riding BOLT, the first roller coaster at sea, to simply enjoying a delicious chocolate ice cream, most notably with other passengers who share an unabashed sense of euphoria and delight in being together again.

“Funderstruck is the unmistakable feeling when you choose fun on Carnival, and the kind of joyful experience essential to people’s health and happiness,” said Pete Callaro, senior vice president of brand and product marketing for Carnival Cruise Line. “Carnival cruises are the perfect vacation to enjoy with those you’ve missed having fun with over the past year.”

The campaign, created by Anomaly, is an extension of the brand’s Choose Fun campaign that launched in 2018. All paid media and integration elements were created by Initiative and supported by the public relations consultancy LDWW.